Benson Richmond Preview
Benson Richmond Preview This weekend’s unveiling of the SAFER barrier at the three-quarter mile Richmond International Raceway might be a prelude to one day having all NASCAR Winston Cup tracks equipped with the energy-absorbing walls. Only Indianapolis uses the system now and New Hampshire will be equipped at the October race. The SAFER barrier is four steel tubes welded in about 20-foot sections and bolted to the concrete walls. Between the steel and the concrete, pads of hard, pink foam are placed about 10 feet apart, allowing the surface to bend and thereby reduce force. Benson wrecked in a Busch Series race at Richmond in 2002. He suffered a broken rib in his back on the right side and two cracked ribs on front right side of his body. He missed three races. Benson’s teammate Jerry Nadeau was injured at Richmond in May and has yet to return to racing. Benson’s Crew Chief James Ince, of Springfield, Mo., is celebrating a championship for his dirt late model car building company. Justin Wells of Crane Mo. won the IMCA Dirt Late Model championship last week in a chassis built by James Ince Motorsports. Benson On SAFER Barrier: "The SAFER barrier is good news. I know NASCAR has been working on it pretty hard and I'm glad they are far enough along to where they think it's time to install it at Richmond. Obviously, we all hope it works and makes the sport a little bit safer. Richmond is a great track and if this barrier works like I think it will everyone in our sport will benefit. We hit the wall at the short tracks just as hard as we hit the wall at the bigger tracks. I hope we have the SAFER barrier at all of our tracks soon." Benson On Richmond: “I have always liked going to Richmond. It’s a great race track. It has two grooves and you can race all over the place. I’ve said before and I still say Richmond might be the best show we put on for everyone all season. The place is a lot of fun for the drivers, the fans like it because its close short-track racing where you can pass, and I think most of our crew guys like the race because they don’t have to fix a lot of wrecked race cars like we do at Bristol.” Predictions for Weekend: “Last Spring we ran OK but not like we wanted to. I hope it will be better Saturday night. We are getting better and better of late. We weren’t showing all that we had a Darlington and got caught up in somebody else’s wreck. I think we had top-15s in the last three ovals. We’d like to do better than that on Saturday night.” Ince On Building the IMCA Dirt Late Model Champion: “The company is about four or five years old in Rogersville, Missouri. Until last year we were just a parts and components business, but I decided we wanted to design and build our own dirt late model chassis. Since this was a startup operation we only sold about eight cars and one of them was to Justin Wells who was running in the IMCA late model division. He was a young kid that wasn’t getting a lot of help and we saw a lot of potential. Turns out he goes out and wins the championship and I think combined with the other drivers our cars had about 20 victories. That’s pretty rewarding. We are pretty excited. This is an all Missouri operation. The short tracks are what I grew up on and I’m proud of that background. We have our own dirt team. My brother drives for me and I’m sure some day when I’m not in Winston Cup it’s where I plan to go back to and enjoy life. Racing is what I do and it’s what I love.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Valvoline Informed Sources - Story Ideas Attention Radio Broadcasters: Johnny Benson audio is now available. If you would like a MP3 file of Johnny Benson previewing an upcoming race or talking about a specific subject please email me and I will send you the audio file of Benson. If you would like weekly pictures of the #10 team and Benson please email me and I will give you the pass code so you can download pictures every Monday. Media only please. On Fire Monday through Saturday Jimmy Watts is a captain with the Charlotte Fire Department. On Sunday he goes over pit wall just inches away from 43 swarming cars to gas Johnny Benson’s #10 Valvoline Pontiac. Watts helped pull Benson out of his car at Talladega last year and is a good authority on firefighting techniques in racing. What's the owner doing at testing? At testing events, the car owner normally would be as ignored as a busboy at Hooters. Why are Valvoline representatives a key part of pre- and in-season testing for the No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac and No. 9 and 19 Dodge Dealers Intrepid R/Ts? That's because Valvoline uses the Nascar Winston Cup tests to try out its new qualifying oils, gear oils, radiator wetter that go into the engines of Johnny Benson, Bill Elliott and Jeremy Mayfield. The Business of Racing is Business: Half of the stories written about Nascar Winston Cup racing are business related these days. Jim Rocco - Senior Vice President at the Valvoline Company - is the listed car owners of Johnny Benson's #10 Valvoline Pontiac and an excellent interview for stories dealing with team owners, sponsorship or economics of racing. For Sale? Want to know how much it costs to be on a Winston Cup racer? Valvoline has a color graphic in jpg form that gives rough costs estimates of every spot on a Winston Cup car. Home Grown Racing Valvoline as well as Benson and his Crew Chief James Ince value local racers across the country. Benson races a pavement late model and Ince owns and races with his dirt team in the Midwest. Valvoline supports local racers by giving money through a competition called the Valvoline Cup open to all American racers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Benson Richmond Record Race Year S F Spring 2003 13 15 Fall 2002 9 35 Spring 2001 DNS Fall 2001 27 10 Spring 2001 11 6 Fall 2000 8 7 Spring 2000 23 25 Fall 1999 30 22 Spring 1999 26 28 Fall 1998 32 41 Spring 1998 8 18 Fall 1997 37 13 Spring 1997 23 9 Fall 1996 34 10 Spring 1996 33 37 Benson 2003 Record S F Daytona 40 19 Rockingham 2 13 Las Vegas 16 12 Atlanta 23 11 Darlington 22 25 Bristol 20 19 Texas 13 32 Talladega 17 41 Martinsville 28 32 California 32 36 Richmond 13 15 Charlotte 10 24 Dover 30 5 Pocono 25 24 Michigan 26 25 Infineon 25 30 Daytona 22 27 Chicago 36 18 Loudon 26 26 Pocono 29 20 Indianapolis 40 13 Watkins Glen 27 27 Michigan 35 10 Bristol 32 14 Darlington 11 40 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE RACE: Chevy Rock and Roll 400 Race: Saturday, September 6, 2003 in Richmond, VA TV: TNT - 7:40pm/et Pre-Race Show: TNT - 7:00pm/et - hosted by Bill Weber Scheduled Race Re-Air: one-hour recap of the race on Wednesday, September 10th at 7:00pm/et and again on September 11th at 1:00am/et; a full three-hour race show will re-air at 3:00pm/et on Thursday, September 11th Announcers: Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons, Wally Dallenbach Pit Reporters: Bill Weber, Matt Yocum, Marty Snider, Dave Burns War Wagon: Bill Weber and many guests Purse/Race Awards: $3,841,298 in 2002 2002 Race Winner: Matt Kenseth, 94.787mph, started 25th Event/Track Race Record: Dale Jarrett, Sept 1997, 109.047mph Oldest Winner: Harry Gant, 51 years, 7 months, 28 days, Sept 1991 Youngest Winner: Richmond Petty, 23 years, 9 months, 21 days, April 1961 Most Laps Led: Bobby Allison, Sept 1979, 369 laps Most Cautions: 14 (3 Times), most recently May 2002 Fewest Cautions: 0, March 1976 Most Caution Laps: 123 (2 times) most recently Sept 1974 Worst Starting Spot to Win: Richard Petty, March 1971, started 28th Track/Race Length: 0.75 mile oval, 400 laps, 300 miles Pit Road Speed: 35mph Practice Practice: Friday, September 5th, 11:20am - 1:20pm/et; 4:45 - 5:30pm/et Happy Hour Practice: Friday, September 5th, 6:10 - 6:55pm/et on TV-TNT tape delay at 7:00pm/et. Qualifying Qualifying Draw: Friday, September 5th, 10:20am/et First Round Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday, September 5th at 3:05pm/et, TV-TNT live. Track Qualifying Record: Ward Burton, May 2002, 127.389mph Event Qualifying Record: Jimmie Johnson, Sept 2002, 126.145mph Last Year's Pole Sitter: Jimmie Johnson, 126.145, finished 13th. Track Specs: Short Track: 0.75-mile oval, 60-foot width with 10-foot apron Banking: turns: 14 degrees; frontstretch 8 degrees; backstretch 2 degrees Straights: Backstretch - 860 feet; Frontstretch - 1290 feet Seating Capacity: ~105,00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Valvoline Pontiac Team Television Information Pit Contact: James Ince or Drew Brown Owners: Valvoline (Jim Rocco)/MB2 Motorsports (Tom Beard, Nelson Bowers, Read Morton) Crew Chief/Car Chief: James Ince Engine Builder: Hendrick Motorsports Spotter (Race Day) Jay Guy Spotter (Practice Only) Russell Hoekwater Engine Tuner John Kendrach Over The Wall Pit Crew Front Tire Changer Rick (Fuzz) Burgdoff Front Tire Carrier Shane Cooke Rear Tire Changer Greg Burkhart Rear Tire Carrier Steve Genenbacher Gasman Jimmy Watts Tire Specialist Skippy Johnson Catch Can Steve Mann Jackman Brian Perry Other Crew Members Truck Driver: Jerry Hess Mechanic: David Baum Shocks: Mike Cluka Tires: Jeff (Skippy) Johnson Engineer: Tim Turner Computers & Gas Runner: John Hayes Scorer: Terry Lane Pit Stop Coach: Gary Smith PR Rep: Drew Brown ### Drew Brown drewbrown@bellsouth.net 704-650-0428 cell 704-895-3651 home